


Out of Practice

by NazyJayne (MissKira)



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Malcolm Bright Needs a Hug, Missing Scene, let’s try out being normal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-24 17:00:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21621364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissKira/pseuds/NazyJayne
Summary: He catches movement in the entry hall in the corner of his eye and leaves his detectives to keep working the scene to meet Bright. The kid has a bounce to his step — a literal bounce to his step — that Gil hasn’t seen since his teenage years.Missing Scene from 1x09. How’d Gil know Malcom had a date?
Relationships: Gil Arroyo & Malcolm Bright
Comments: 6
Kudos: 93





	Out of Practice

**Author's Note:**

> This wormed it’s way into my head after watching the episode and wouldn’t let go. I haven’t written fic in *years* but this show has taken over my brain as if it’s been written just for me, and I couldn’t help myself.
> 
> Dedicated to J and M, who allowed me to get them hooked and now are just as excited as me to gab about episodes on Wednesday mornings at work.

He’s keeping an eye out while supervising the ESU techs around the scene, blue jackets swarming over the tossed apartment, searching out small clues while his detectives take in the big ones. Edrisa’s unusually chipper as she begins her cursorary examination of the vic, though she has yet to say anything other than initial observations into the recorder clipped to her jacket. There’s an assistant trailing behind her, taking notes when she points something out, scribbling as she chatters on. 

It’s a new crime scene, and Gil has yet to grab a cup of coffee. He’d been about to, after hanging his jacket on the old coatrack that’d come with his office, a holdover he approved of, when Dani’d interrupted him, head peeking in the open door. 

“We’ve caught one. Rich guy, Midtown. ESU is on route,” she’d said, shrugging into her own jacket. Winter was well on its way to the city. 

“And?” he replied, motioning with his hand for her to continue, pulling his own coat on. Grabbed his weapon from the top drawer of his desk, started to follow her. 

Dani pulled out her notebook. “Guy was caught in the act, head bashed in. No signs of forced entry.”

From the scene, it feels pretty open and shut, but Gil has been to enough of these to know it’s not always as it seems, and that’s where —

He catches movement in the entry hall in the corner of his eye and leaves his detectives to keep working the scene to meet Bright. The kid has a bounce to his step — a literal bounce to his step — that Gil hasn’t seen since his teenage years when he’d experimented with different substances to get his nightmares to stop, and his brows must come together in concern because Bright is already rolling his eyes. 

“I’m not on anything,” he sighs, standing close, voice low. These walls, close together, could carry sound easily. “I’m trying normal.”

“You? Normal?” Gil snorts, shaking his head. “How’s that working out so far?”

Bright’s face lights up, youthful in a way Gil has rarely associated with him. “I have a date!” 

“Really?” is Gil’s deadpan reply. 

It does little to temper the kid’s excitement. “With Eve. She works with Mother. We ran into each other earlier and, well — “

“You’re trying normal, so you asked her out. Good for you, kid.” There was a girl or two in high school Gil vaguely remembers, before Bright decided it’d be best to stop putting himself out there; he’d been bullied through to his senior year, both for his last name and being two years younger than everyone else. No one likes a know-it-all at seventeen. College had been a bit different, as he’d gone through with the name change as soon as he turned 18 — the day he turned 18 to be exact. Jackie took him in the middle of the day, unbeknownst to anyone, and announced it over a feast of a dinner when Gil got off shift. 

They’d known before Jessica. Something Gil treasured, but close to the vest. 

The moment Bright knew how sentimental he was was the moment he’d lose all ability to tell the kid what to do. 

“I just don’t,” — he twists his hands and looks down, joy turning to insecurity — “I am out of practice. Where do you even take people?” 

Gil put an arm around his shoulders and lead him towards the crime scene. “You know, try JT. He’s got some good ideas, been married awhile. And I think he’s warmed up to you.” 

Bright snorts but Gil can tell he’s considering it. The kid breaks free, easily ducking out from Gil’s arm, and claps. “So, what happened here?”


End file.
